Sunday, June 26, 2011

At the beginning of the series I said I would take one win out of three based on the pitching matchups goings in. That's exactly what the Rockies got, winning the Ubaldo matchup and losing these final two. So I can't say I'm too upset over the results, but there's no question the past two days were disappointing.

Disappointing that Tracy didn't take a better shot at CC Sabathia yesterday. Disappointing that today started off very well, but they couldn't collect themselves or regain their head of steam once the Yankees started fighting back.

Juan Nicasio: Started off very impressively. But once the Yankees got a second look at him, things went a little more like I was anticipating. Still, you can't take those first four innings away from Nicasio. They were brilliant. Now you just hope he can learn from his struggles later and continue working towards developing his secondary stuff.

Also, an outing like today sure doesn't change my prediction that he's going to end up being the guy the Rockies envisioned Felipe Paulino as. He's proven he can be deadly on even the most elite hitters when they only see him once.Ty Wigginton: Did you know Ty has five home runs in his last 15 at-bats? Did you also know the Rockies are 2-8 in games where he homers? Kinda weird.

Also, he should be the NL Player of the Week.

Troy Tulowitzki: He's had better days. 0-for-4 with a fatal error in the 7th inning. If he makes that play cleanly, it changes the entire outlook of the ballgame late. A basehit in the 1st or 5th innings would have helped as well. One of those days for Tulo. I'm sure disappointing was the word of the day for him as well.

Or F***! One of the two.

I did hear he apologized to Matt Belisle afterwards for the error. That's totally unnecessary but a very classy thing to do. Something a leader would do. Something a Todd Helton would do. Something a Brett Favre or Jay Cutler wouldn't do. Own up to his actions and put the responsibility on himself.

Mattpen: Not a bad effort from the Matts today. The Belisle walk was costly, as they usually are. But he was also victimized by the Tulo error and two of the softest groundball singles you'll see. Very tough loss for him. Oh, and the Reynolds pitch to Mark Teixeira sucked.

Overall: Like I said at the top, things started out very well but once Nicasio allowed that first hit the head of steam they had built up was gone. Once it got back to even, the Rockies shot themselves in the foot a couple times and here we sit 3-3 on the road trip.

Tomorrow: Winning in Wrgley Field with Jhoulys Chacin on the mound would be a really good idea. It would cement a winning road trip and end it on a high note. Chacin is pitching, you really can't afford to lose any of his starts. And you're playing the Cubs. You really can't afford to let that opportunity slip away either.